Inkjet printers form an image by firing a plurality of discrete drops of ink from one or more nozzles on to the surface of a recording sheet placed adjacent the nozzles. Modern inkjet printers can print on almost any conventional paper or similar medium. The quality of images produced by such printers is greatly affected by the properties of the medium used. More particularly, to produce high quality images reliably, it is necessary that the recording medium, i.e., the inkjet recording sheet, dry rapidly, exhibit good ink adhesion, resist image cracking, not promote excessive spreading of the ink droplet, not promote “wicking”, that is spreading of ink by capillary action through fibrous medium such as paper, and, importantly, be such that the contrast of the dried image with moist surfaces does not result in bleeding of ink from the image. Printing technologies are applied to many different surfaces, for example, polyester film, polyolefin films including polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polycarbonate, polyimide films, metals (i.e., aluminum, steel, copper), glass, vinyl film, Tyvek, canvas, polyvinylidene chloride films, textiles, canvas, leather, rubber, paper, polyurethane, ceramics, wood and the like.
In curable ink systems, the inks can be prepared by a polymerization process initiated by thermal or photo irradiation (α, γ, and x-rays, UV, E-beam, and the like). Desirable properties in polymeric inks include solution viscosity, lubricity, gloss, cure speed, adhesion, impact resistance, toughness, coating hardness, water resistance, tack, surface tension, wetting, foaming, tensile strength, solvency, dispersive properties, flexibility, chemical resistance, abrasion resistance, and penetration.
The functional attributes of acetoacetoxyethyl methacrylate are disclosed in Eastman Chemical's “Acetoacetoxyethyl methacrylate (AAEM) Acetoacetyl Chemistry” Brochure (Publication Number N-319C, December 1999), which disclosure is incorporated by reference herein. The functional and chemical attributes of diketene chemistry are disclosed in “Diketene” by R. Clemens (Chemical Reviews, Volume 86, Number 2, April 1986), which disclosure is incorporated by reference herein. The functional and chemical attributes of ketene chemistry are disclosed in “Ketenes II” by T Tidwell (J. Wiley and Sons, New Jersey, USA, 2006), which disclosure is incorporated by reference herein.
EP 1578824B1 describes a curable liquid composition containing an acryloyl group containing resin produced by reacting monofunctional vinyl compounds and multifunctional acrylic esters with β-dicarbonyl group containing compound in which the two activated hydrogen atoms are in its methylene position. Self-initiating photocurable resins that UV-cure with little or no photoinitiator are described in Michael L. Gould et al., Novel Self-Initiating UV-Curable Resins: Generation Three, 1 PROCEEDINGS FROM RAD TECH EUROPE 05, 245-51 (2005). These disclosures are incorporated by reference herein.
U.S. 2010/0041846 discloses lac tam/vinyl alcohol copolymers, specifically, hydrophobic cross-linkable) acetylated lactam/vinyl alcohol copolymers. U.S. Pat. No. 6,933,024 discloses the use and preparation of poly(vinylpyrrolidone-(PVP) co-vinylalcohol) as an inkjet recording material by hydrolyzing PVP/polyvinylacetate copolymer. U.S. Pat. No. 4,350,788 describes a synthetic resin emulsion containing an acetoacetylated polyvinyl alcohol. U.S. Pat. No. 2,536,980 describes synthetic polyvinyl alcohol-1-butene-1,3-diones. U.S. Pat. No. 5,227,423 describes latex paint comprised of polymers having a non-self-polymerizable monomer, such as maleic acid and itaconic acid, a co-polymerizable monomer, such as a N-vinyl lactam, an acrylate, such as 2-hydroxyethyl acrylate, a wet adhesion promoting monomer, such as acetoacetoxyethyl methacrylate.
Additional examples for lactamic monomers can be found in “A novel route to substituted poly(vinyl pyrrolidone)s via simple functionalization of 1-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone in the 3-position by ring-opening reactions” by H. Reinecke et. al. (Eur. Poly. J., 46 (2010) p 1557-1562. Additional examples for lactamic monomers can be found in “Synthesis and polymerization of new pyrrolidone-containing methacrylate monomers” by T. P. Davis et. al. (Polymer, 39, 17, p 4165-4169, 1998).
Lactamic polymers, such as polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP), are well known to exhibit a high degree of functional utility; particularly in inks and graphic art coatings. One challenge with lactamic polymers is water solubility and water sensitivity. As printing technology evolves, there is a need for new functional materials that incorporate facile methods for achieving water resistance improvements.
Accordingly, new polymeric inks are desirable having improved properties including solution viscosity, lubricity, gloss, cure speed, adhesion, impact resistance, toughness, coating hardness, water resistance, pigment surface decoration, tack, surface tension, wetting, foaming, tensile strength, solvency, dispersive properties, flexibility, chemical resistance, abrasion resistance, and penetration.